Thanks to Dermotron's rallying call to get the season back on track, the number of absentees has decreased to just eight players with two names going surprisingly missing - Erkifino and ZanSnake.

We have seen PedroM, pyromyst and dl8860 return to training for the first time in a LONG time and while they don't start this game, if they continue to turn up to training, they may find themselves starting before long.

On top of that, we have a new face to welcome to the Vipers after riise gave the squad a huge boost in joining the club with perfect timing as The Gaffer feared he would have to employ someone out of position following GFRay's injury.

It certainly gave The Gaffer a lot to think about, especially after trunky, Bevchenko and drkshadow1 had registered a 6 in the 1:0 defeat to Aston Villa. That game had taken place only three days ago and the Vipers boss was also looking to rest Dermotron, BobMem, gazzas1uk, evesham and AJ.

In the end, Dermotron, gazzas1uk and evesham were forced to start the game anyway. The absence of a centre midfielder with Redknapp69 serving the final game of his three match ban and Rapinoe AWOL means evesham continues to play out of position.

Eight other changes were made though as Kowalinho returns in the sticks for a 13th start of the season with Erkifino going missing. riise gets his debut at right-back whilst Baz and Big E replace trunky and BobMem.

The front four have all been changed with London35, Felix, hornbloweroafc and ebfatz coming in.

The bench sees PedroM, pyromyst and dl8860 all included with trunky providing cover in defence and Bevchenko winning the toss between him, AJ and BobMem due to his fitness.

It's certainly a lot of changes to the Vipers as they look for a first win against Sheff Wed, having drawn 1:1 earlier this season with ZanSnake scoring.

The first half was fairly uneventful as gazzas1uk set the tone early on, volleying an effort over the bar from riise's cross but Sheff Wed hit back with Rhodes rattling the crossbar before Joao put an effort way off target too.

gazzas1uk had another chance, set up this time from a Felix cross, but Westwood was ale able to gather the ball safely this time. A few moments later, Felix met an evesham cross with a header parried away by Westwood.

The game exploded into life seven minutes after the interval, gazzas1uk lifting a corner into the area for ebfatz to out-jump Pudil and knock it down for Big E to rifle into the net with a half-volley for his first ever Vipers goal.

That was the last of the action for ebfatz who had a shin problem and so dl8860 joined the game to make his Vipers debut. He had the chance to make it a goalscoring debut but after gazzas1uk's drive was deflected into dl8860's path, he was put under pressure from the defence and shot wide.

At the other end, Kowalinho parried away a Rhodes shot from distance before London35 was withdrawn on the 65th minute and drkshadow1 came on. The substitute had a chance five minutes later after Felix laid the ball off but Westwood turned the driven shot wide.

The final change came with 20 minutes left, pyromyst marking his return by taking over hornbloweroafc with Sheff Wed also making a double change, Bannan and Boyd replacing Bruno and Jones. The corner from pyromyst was on target from Big E's header but it was cleared away.

The scramble saw Bannan collect it and use his feet well to turn away from danger and play upfield for Rhodes. It was flicked on for Joao who was being chased by Big E but Joao was able to play it past riise before shooting into the top corner to level the game.

It was a blow to the Vipers and Denswil was soon booked after a cynical foul on Felix. The free-kick came to waste as Sheff Wed countered and Big E was booekd too for a trip on Butterfield. The wall did its job in blocking Jacobs' free-kick and dl8860 tried to embark on a run but was stopped by a sliding challenge from Pudil.

evesham got away with a warning after upending Butterfield and again, the wall blocked it. This time, riise collected it and sparked an attack but when Baz hit the ball forward for Felix, the winger could only blaze the volley over the bar.

It's a point for the Vipers and the following day, Aston Villa beat Birmingham 4:1 in their game in hand so they are actually now only three points behind.